Kidnapped
by sunset oasis
Summary: His life was boring and his parents never allowed him to go out alone. One day, Draco decided to floo to Diagon Alley by himself and explore the streets alone when his parents weren't home. It was an easy and fail-safe plan, or so he thought, before he got kidnapped by a mysterious Italian woman.
_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter_

 _A.N.: Well, this story popped into my head and I just felt that I had to write it down. R &R :)_

* * *

His life was awfully boring. Tedious. Fixed, preplanned schedules that he didn't get a say in and nothing new or exciting ever happened. Monday afternoons were for Potions Lessons. Tuesday nights for Transfiguration. Thursday mornings for Herbology and Friday nights for Charms. Flying lessons were on Saturday afternoon, if it rained then the lesson would be at the indoor pitch inside Malfoy Manor.

His parents loved him, or so they said, but sometimes young Draco didn't believe it. If so, they wouldn't make him study so much when all his friends were playing, right? He hadn't even started Hogwarts yet, but now they had forced him down all the first-year curriculum.

Because Malfoys were expected to be the best, his father would say. Malfoys were naturally at the top of everything.

"If you'd be naturally at the top, why the need to make any effort?" Pansy had asked when he turned down her invitation a sleepover at Parkinson Manor because Lucius expected him to be studying.

Draco had no answer to that.

* * *

It was a bright and sunny summer afternoon when his teenage rebellion sense kicked in. He should be doing the homework Uncle Severus assigned. He should be in the study instead of venturing outside the Manor while his parents went out to deal with some business.

He wasn't allowed to go out the Manor alone, he knew that if he got caught there would be serious consequences. The house rules of the Malfoy Manor were pretty strict, as were the punishments.

Checking the clock – two in the afternoon. His parents wouldn't come back until dinnertime. Dobby was cleaning the dungeons. Nobody was around. Perfect.

He was just going to floo out to the Diagon Alley and come back before dinner. He could look around the street there alone, without his parents tagging behind. Sounded like an easy enough and fail-safe plan. Maybe he could go into the – what's that called, Knocktune Alley or Knockturn Alley – for some exploring. He had no idea what that alley was about, but it seemed mysterious enough. It must be fun.

Dobby was now cleaning the numerous rooms on the third floor. His parents were still predictably not back yet. Draco was sure that his plan would go just fine.

He took some floo powder, threw it into the fireplace, and said, "Diagon Alley!"

Draco was happy. Wandering alone on the streets was just as fun as he expected. Without his mother's voice telling him he had to act like an proper pureblood with perfect manners, without his father's sharp eyes following him closely, freedom tasted sweet like candies.

Draco enjoyed this newfound freedom.

The shops all looked quite interesting. Who knew window shopping was interesting? So many things to look and marvel at. He could gaze at all kinds of stuff, without his mother telling him that some products were beneath the Malfoys and not worth buying.

And then his eyes found the entrance of the Knockturn Alley. Heart filling with excitement, he took a nervous but eager step in.

* * *

She always had good sense of gaining money – though perhaps not always in the most conventional way. Or legal. But she did have that sharp sense that smelt opportunity to earn some galleons whenever it arose. And when she was the Malfoy heir wandering alone down the Diagon Alley towards Knockturn Alley, Gabriella Zabini smelt an opportunity.

She didn't hesitate to strike, because she had a feeling this was a rare opportunity that she might not encounter twice.

* * *

Ten-year-old Blaise stared at the pale blond who was drugged to sleep on the big, black-and-white, fashionably looking sofa in the living room of Zabini Villa. The blond was quite skinny, his slender body curved up in a way that made him look even smaller. The silk shirt screamed fine quality, and the trousers and shoes were also expensive looking. Blaise had learned to recognize the rich guys since long ago, thanks to his mother.

"Mother," he sighed as turned to the beautiful woman who was now writing a letter asking for ransom, "why can't you just stick to marrying rich, sick old man and have to switch to kidnapping? You know what they all say, to be successful you should only do what you do best."

His mother didn't raise her head as she answered, "these days one should always have more than one area of expertise, Blaise. Anyway, when chance presents itself, only a fool wouldn't take it. Just keep the boy occupied for me once he's awake. I've got another party to attend tonight."

"Yes, Mother," Blaise rolled his eyes. Sometimes he felt like their relationship were less like mother and son but more like friends – or partners in crime. She treated him nice enough – when she was not busily scheming to get more money or attending social events. She rarely got angry with him and she was willing to buy stuff to spoil him, but Blaise could feel that her mind wasn't on him that much.

He supposed he didn't really mind. He could take care of himself, he had been doing so for quite a long time. He sometimes wished she could care more, but he persuaded himself to be content of the fact that she treated him nice enough.

His eyes flew back to the Malfoy boy. Seriously, what was that kid doing, wandering down the near-empty streets of the Knockturn Alley alone? Didn't he know he had the blond hair that made him so recognizable and he could be kidnapped by someone more dangerous and violent than his mother?

Blaise sighed again and went back to the book he was reading.

* * *

Dobby freaked out when he found out that young Master Draco not in his room, nor anywhere at the Malfoy Manor. Where could young Master possibly be? Was he in danger? Dobby couldn't bear to think that. And Master Lucius and Mistress Narcissa would be so worried.

He continued to search frantically through the manor to no avail. After each room he searched, Dobby became more hysteric. Oh, Master and Mistress would be so furious and so worried and so sad! Dobby couldn't help but cry. They had asked Dobby to take care of young Master Draco and Dobby failed them!

"I'm off to the party, keep the Malfoy boy company while I'm gone, Blaise," Mrs. Zabini instructed. She was now wearing a beautiful, dark-blue dress that emphasized some body parts rather daringly in a way that kept men's eyes glued to her.

After years of living with an extremely pretty woman whose beauty rivaled the veelas, Blaise became quite immune to beauty. He didn't find his mother's clothing for today particular impressive or anything. "Sure, Mother. And have fun at the party."

"Oh, thanks, I will," she laughed merrily.

Yeah, he believed she would.

* * *

"What do you mean, Draco disappeared?" shrieked Narcissa Malfoy in an unladylike way that was rarely seen on her. But to be fair, her son had never disappeared like this before either.

"Dobby is sorry, Dobby should be paying more attention but instead Dobby was cleaning the third floor and young master disappeared! Dobby will go punish himself, bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" The house-elf was in hysterics and wailing loudly, while banging his head against the wall at the same time.

Narcissa loved her only son very much. She knew that Lucius also did, but he was more reserved when it came to showing affections. He maintained a strict appearance in front of Draco but it was just his own way of caring for their son. And now with Draco's disappearance, both of them were extremely worried.

It was then the letter from the kidnapper arrived as a snow-white owl landed on the table. Hands shaking as she read the letter, Narcissa called for Lucius.

* * *

Draco woke up slowly and found himself on a large black-and-white sofa. Shivering due to the coldness he felt from just waking up, he sat up slowly and tried to take in the surroundings.

 _Where the hell was he?_

He tried to remember what was the last thing that happened before he went unconscious. He had been walking past the fifth or sixth shop in Knockturn Alley, then someone grabbed him from behind, apparated away and forced some drink down his throat.

Fear started sinking in.

"Oh, you're awake," the boy sitting on another small couch looked up from his book. He had dark skin that looked smooth, black curls that fell slightly in front of his forehead, and dark-brown slanting eyes looking a little exotic. "Are you cold?" The boy apparently observed Draco's shivering as he stood up to grab a black coat and handed it to Draco.

"Thanks," Draco's pureblood manners immediately kicked in before he could stop it. "Why I am here and where is this place and who are you?" He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Blaise tucked his hand into the pockets on his coat and hesitated a slight moment, as if pondering how to answer. In fact, his mother left no instructions to tell or not tell the Malfoy boy that he had been kidnapped. Blaise supposed whether the boy knew or not wouldn't really interfere with the plan now, so he said, "Well, um, you're kidnapped."

He didn't tell the boy his name. While there was no specific instructions about this, he figured his mother probably wouldn't appreciate his name being known and tracked back when she released Draco.

Fear sank into Draco's heart. He was kidnapped. Would he be hurt or tortured? Would his parents come to find him? "You too?"

Blaise's mouth twitched slightly into an amused smirk. Then, he said almost apologetically, "I'm afraid not." _I, unlike you, have nobody worrying over my whereabouts and trying to get me back anywhere._

Anger and fear flared in Draco's eyes, "Why did you kidnap me? Are you going to hurt me? Where is here?"

Blaise held up his arms in surrender. "My house." _Better not tell him that we were no longer in England but in Italy now._ "I'm not going to hurt you. As for why my mother kidnapped you … for money, I guess." He grimaced slightly.

Draco just glared at him, "Your mother kidnapped me?"

"Er, yeah," Blaise sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about her, but I'm sure your parents would be able to get you back soon, with all the money they had. Meanwhile, it's comfortable here and I won't hurt you, so you can relax a little bit, okay?"

"I'm kidnapped and you want me to relax?" Draco asked incredulously, glaring at Blaise. He raised his hand and marched towards the dark-skinned boy, wanting to punch him. (Pureblood manners be damned.)

Blaise groaned internally and whipped out a wand, "Hold on."

Draco froze and stared at the wand, "You're not allowed to use magic! The Ministry forbid children to have wands, too!" Then it struck him he didn't really know the other's boy age.

"Don't worry about me," Blaise smirked slightly and thought, _The British Ministry maybe … welcome to Italy, boy._

* * *

"How dare this person kidnap Draco!" Lucius was furious, worry written all over his face. He looked at his wife and said determinedly, "we'll get him back, Narcissa. We will. I've got some influence in the Auror deparment, I'll ask them to handle this."

"Would it be easier to just give him the money he asked?" Narcissa questioned. "After all, it's affordable sum to us."

"Of course it is, Narcissa love," Lucius sighed. "But it'll give people the wrong impression, thinking they could all kidnap my child and ask for money. I'm going to make ask the aurors to look up this account number at Gringotts to find out who's the owner, then they could send in forces to his house and save Draco."

* * *

"Father has a lot of connections in the Ministry, he'll arrest your mother and you're not getting any money," Draco said, shaking.

 _A lot of connections in the Italian Ministry too? I doubt that._ Blaise thought. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Just calm down and relax for now okay? I'm not going to hurt you as long as you don't attack me—"

"You kidnapped me!" Draco shouted.

"Technically, my mother did, not me." Blaise corrected him. "Now, if you want to attack me I'm afraid I'll have to defend myself. Probably stun you and gave you more sleeping draught. But, as it's already past dinner time, I suspected you're hungry. Don't make this difficult and just sit back, relax, while I call the elf to get us something to eat."

"How do I know you won't poison me?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"I'll be eating the same food," Blaise rolled his eyes impatiently. "Now _please_ sit down."

Draco didn't want to follow the instructions, but he didn't wish to be stunned either. Glaring at Blaise, he huffed and sat back onto the large sofa.

Eyes appraising Draco cautiously, Blaise called the house-elf and asked for some dinner.

"Damn, the goblins were only willing to reveal that the vault belongs to an Italian but nothing more," Lucius groaned, feeling irritated at the goblins stubborn work ethics. He racked his brains for way to solve this dilemma, but could come up with nothing.

"Let's just transfer the money to that Gringotts Vault," Narcissa begged him. "I'm really worried about Draco."

"Word of advice," Blaise said as he dug in the lasagna, "don't go wandering the empty streets of Knockturn Alley alone. Don't you know it's dangerous there?"

"What do you care?" Draco spat.

"It's dangerous," Blaise continued calmly, "honestly, you might meet someone more violent and dangerous than my mother, at least she's just after the money and wouldn't hurt you."

Draco glared at him and didn't reply. He started wondering why his parents hadn't done anything yet – maybe all their saying they loved him were really lies? Or just Italy too far from England so the communication was slower and all that. To his horror, he felt some tears swimming in his eyes and tried to blink them back.

Blaise groaned internally to himself again when he saw Draco's eyes shimmering. Why did he need to babysit some boy his mother kidnapped? Awkwardly, he grabbed some tissue and handed it to Draco wordlessly, the other boy taking them but didn't say anything.

Of course, he could imagine what his mother might said. That she provided him money to spend and big villa to live in, it wasn't unreasonable to ask him to help in one of the money gaining schemes.

Feeling a bit helpless as he didn't have many experience of comforting people nor being comforted, Blaise spoke hesitantly, "I'm sorry … look, I'm sure this will be over soon, okay? Your parents will transfer the money and Mother will send you back. No harm at all."

"What if they don't?" Draco whispered, fear creeping into his voice.

Blaise frowned, "I'm sure they will." After all, Draco Malfoy was one and only heir to The Noble House of Malfoy, Mr. Malfoy and Mrs. Malfoy couldn't possibly just ignore him being kidnapped.

"Sometimes I think they don't love me," Draco muttered miserably.

Blaise nearly groaned at this. Why did he need to have this kind of heart-to-heart conversation while his mother went to the party? He could be finishing that novel of his instead of listening to this! Sighing to himself, reminding himself that the boy in front of him just got kidnapped and he should show at least some sympathy, Blaise tried to say as gently as he could, "Maybe you're mistaken about that. What makes you think they don't love you?"

So while Blaise zoned out and tried to guess what was the ending in the novel, Draco began talking about the numerous lessons he had, his parents making him study while his friends played, their strictness, how he wasn't allow to do anything, the incident when he had intentionally touched some dangerous artefact of Lucius and got himself hurt, and after they worried and fussed over and healed him he had _still_ gotten punished.

Blaise's attention snapped back and frowned for a moment, then suggested drily, "Just be grateful that they fuss and worry," thinking that his mother was usually too busy with her own stuff to remember reminding Blaise what things were dangerous and shouldn't be touched.

He had quickly learnt to ask the house-elf to check something unknown before touching it. Maybe a little paranoid, but one could never be too careful.

"But I got hurt!" Draco said petulantly. "I'll remember not to touch that thing again without a going over Father's knee."

"And next time there's a _different_ object they say it's dangerous?" Blaise raised an eyebrow.

Draco hesitated for a moment. Blaise pressed on, "high probability you'd still touch it, yeah? You'll think you can handle it this time, you've learned more spells now that you could deal with it, or it might not be that dangerous this time, or it wouldn't hurt to just open it slightly, or whatever."

Draco stared at Blaise, wanting to deny the words but somehow realized that they were actually true. Did it mean that his parents just wanted to use punishment as a means to discourage him from touching dangerous stuff? "Fine," he huffed. Maybe there was a reason behind it, didn't mean he had to like it, right?

Blaise's mouth twitched slightly in amusement. If he were to given a choice of a list of dangers he should avoid and the threat of a punishment versus learning by every danger by experience and forced to become paranoid and having the elf to test things for him first, he supposed he would choose the former.

"Look, I'm not going to pretend I know about your family and just tell you of course they love you and will save you soon, but I do know this," Blaise said as he played with the fork in his hand, twirling it around. "If they're willing to spend all the money giving you the lessons and all that, even if they don't love you personally, they still see you as an heir, important to the family name and all that. So they won't just leave you here, trust me."

"… You're not very good at comforting people, did you know that?" Draco demanded. He did not want to just be cared about as the Malfoy heir with the responsibilities, but as Draco, as his own person.

"Sorry, lack of experience," Blaise shrugged easily, not looking sorry at all. _On both the receiving and giving side,_ he thought to himself wryly.

* * *

At Narcissa's insistence, Lucius finally agreed to just transfer the money to the Gringotts vault. He however, he only transferred half the amount and wrote a letter informing the mysterious Italian that he would only transfer the rest of the money after Draco was safely back home. (Though he didn't really intend to give the kidnapper the rest of the money once he got Draco protected.)

The next day, he received the letter back. The kidnapper had demanded that he and Narcissa both swear the Wizard's Oath (using ink) that the rest of the money would be transferred and they wouldn't pursue this matter further. Lucius liked none of the terms, but he and Narcissa were both really worried so he finally agreed to do so.

* * *

Draco woke up in the morning on an unfamiliar bed, then he remembered what had happened yesterday. The dark-skinned boy who had refused to tell Draco's his name had offered him to sleep in a luxurious guest room, and despite the bed being big and soft and comfortable, he wasn't used to sleeping somewhere other than his own bed. He rolled around for many time before falling asleep. (He would've tried to find some way to get out if he hadn't been warned that this place was highly warded in both sides and he couldn't leave or get in without a family member's help.)

Blaise was sitting at the dining table when Draco came out from the guest room. His mother just told him that she had asked the Malfoys to swear the Wizard's Oath in the mail to not to pursue this matter further so it was safe to let Draco knew who he was.

"Didn't introduce myself properly yesterday," Blaise began, holding out a hand to Draco, "Blaise Zabini."

Draco narrowed his eyes at the out-stretched hand. After a night's sleep, he still wasn't sure what attitude to take towards this boy. On the one hand, he was someone involved in the plan of kidnapping him, someone Draco should consider evil and mean; but on the other hand, he had treated Draco quite nicely (apart for threatening to stun him if Draco attacked first) and he had offered him quite some different perspective into Draco's life.

Draco decided not to take the hand, but introduced himself anyway, "Draco Malfoy." He nodded curtly.

Blaise slowly pulled back his hand and acted like nothing happened and began informing Draco today's plans. Blaise's mother would let Draco use the floo to go to the Diagon Alley, and Draco's parents were already informed to wait there. The fireplace was warded so once Draco got to Diagon Alley, he wouldn't be able to come back. Blaise supposed the extra precautions were necessary if there were aurors already waiting on the other side.

Lucius had sworn the Wizard's Oath not to pursue the matter further after Draco was safely returned, but technically he could do whatever he like, including informing the aurors the plans and requiring they place several aurors with them at where Draco would be returned back, before they actually got Draco back. Whatever the aurors did after that Lucius could claim to have nothing to do with it. But the aurors all knew about Lucius Malfoy's high position in the Ministry and knew what they were expected to do.

"You're going to go alone," Blaise told Draco, "we can't come with you – probably aurors on the other side."

Draco nodded. The whole experience was starting to feel a little surreal, almost like a vacation rather than being kidnapped. He wasn't harmed, he got delicious Italian food for dinner and breakfast, he slept in a luxurious bed – not quite as good as his own but still luxurious enough, and he had some interesting chat with Blaise. And now he was going to get back home, unharmed.

He suddenly felt that he might miss Blaise a little after he got back. It had been a while since he met someone as interesting. It was probably due to the different family background that seemed unlike he and rest of his friends, but interesting was interesting regardless of the reason behind it.

"And stay safe okay? Don't go wandering into Knockturn Alley alone again," Blaise said.

"Still don't get why you care," Draco muttered.

Blaise gave Draco a long, hard stare before saying, "Probably just because I'm feeling guilty for this kidnapping thing."

Draco scowled. "That's very selfish and didn't make me feel better at all."

"Yeah," Blaise agreed. "Well, I told you I don't do comforting last night, didn't I?"

The clocked reached eleven, the scheduled time. Gabriella ushered Draco towards the fireplace as Blaise handed him some floo powder.

"One last thing," Blaise whispered to Draco as the blond took the floo powder and throw it into the fireplace. "Last night I said I don't understand your family enough to know whether they loved you or not, which is true, but if I were to venture a guess from all the time and money they spent on you … I think they cared about you a lot."

Draco blinked and tried to say something, but Blaise just shook his head and gestured towards the fireplace, indicating the only thing he should say now are the words 'Diagon Alley.'

Almost reluctantly, Draco said, "Diagon Alley." He stole one last glance at Blaise who had an almost wistful smile on his face, and stepped into the fireplace.

Seconds later, he arrived in Diagon Alley and his Mother ran across the aurors to hug him.

* * *

Years later, after Draco took the Dark Mark and was given some mission from the Dark Lord, Blaise often wondered if those parting words had really been a good decision. Draco was no doubt closer to his family and more appreciative of his parents the next time they met at Hogwarts, and also more eager to please his father. Something that led inevitably to being a Death Eater because of Lucius.

He had come to realize that despite that Lucius and Narcissa both loved their son, the Malfoy family's affiliation with the Dark Lord was also undeniable. At a younger age, Blaise hadn't even imagined that Voldemort would return one day and Draco would go on the path of Death Eater, but apparently life always took the most unpredictable turns.

Blaise would wonder if things would be different if he had tried to distance Draco from his family instead. He would try to convince himself that he wasn't important enough to make any difference anyway to ease his own guilt as he watched Draco getting paler and paler each day in their sixth year.

And it the end, he would eventually start appreciating his own family for staying neutral rather than going dark, and that his mother never forced to into the death eater path. He would begin appreciating the family his had instead of envying some others' – just like he what he had wanted Draco to do all those years ago.

-FIN-


End file.
